WWE SmackDown: Results, Highlights, Analysis, and Grades For Feb. 20

WWE SmackDown Live’s championship picture is now filled with five men, as Baron Corbin and Dolph Ziggler won qualifying matches last week to earn an opportunity at the WWE Championship at Fastlane. Tonight, AJ Styles will address this turn of events.

AJ Styles won the WWE Championship off of Jinder Mahal prior to Survivor Series last year, and it was truly one of the best moments of the year. There’s no doubt that Styles is the most popular man on WWE SmackDown Live today, but he’s had to hold off the persistent challenges of Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn in order to retain the title. This included defeating both men in a handicap match at the Royal Rumble.

On Mar. 11 at Fastlane, Styles will defend his title in a Fatal Five-Way match against Owens, Zayn, Dolph Ziggler, and Baron Corbin. While Styles is the favorite to retain the title, the odds are mathematically stacked against him, and the WWE knows this. They will take advantage by playing up an underdog story with Styles, who will address the situation tonight. I wonder what he’ll say to both Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan, whose quarrel has directly hurt Styles’s reign as a champion.

Meanwhile, Charlotte Flair continues to have her eyes on the Riott Squad, armed with her buddies Naomi and Becky Lynch as allies. Last night on Raw, the women had a six-woman tag match in the main event to hype up the Elimination Chamber, so, naturally, we’re getting a six-woman tag match on SmackDown Live, too. Hopefully there will be a larger takeaway from this.

The SmackDown Tag Division continues to be a bright spot, though it’s hard to get too excited about Shelton Benjamin and Chad Gable vs. The New Day. Last week’s match was thrown together after Gable insulted pancakes, and The New Day picked up a win. Logic dictates that Gable and Benjamin will pull one back, but Daniel Bryan announced that the winner will face the Usos, who remain champions after defeating Gable and Benjamin in a two-out-of-three falls match at the Rumble, at Fastlane.

So where does that leave the Bludgeon Brothers? And do we really need to see another PPV title defense where the Usos, presumably defeat, the New Day or Gable and Benjamin?

Anyway, Bobby Roode has both Randy Orton and Jinder Mahal breathing down his neck during his whole “Open Challenge” thing. I’m guessing we’ll learn more about the US Championship picture tonight, and I wonder if there’s a big multi-man match brewing.

I’m not going to lie, SmackDown Live has been hard to sit through lately, though last week’s Corbin/Owens and Ziggler/Zayn matches were both excellent (particular the latter in the main event).

That said, I’ll do my best to make the “Blue Brand” ride all the better, so follow along here tonight at 8 p.m. ET for live analysis, grades, and potentially savage remarks during SmackDown Live.